Western Australia and coal

While Western Australia has a substantial mining industry, coal plays a relatively small role in the State's economy. While there are substantial coal reserves in the state, especially in the states's south-west, it is currently only mined for domestic use and power generation in particular. However, the Government of Western Australia's Office of Energy states that "efforts are also being made to develop an export market for Western Australian coal."

Existing coal-fired power stations
In 2009 approximately 35% of the electricity generated in Western Australia was from coal-fired power stations. 60% was from gas-fired power stations, 3% from renewables and 2% from oil.

Verve Energy, the government-owned generator operates two coal-fired power stations. These are the Muja power station; and the Collie power station

Verve Energy also operates the Kwinana Power Station which can be fuelled by coal, gas or oil.

A cap imposed on the total amount of power that the government-owned Verve Energy could supply to the market led to Griffin Energy building the 208 megawatt Bluewaters 1 Power Station and the 208 megawatt Bluewaters 2 Power Station. These were the first privately-own coal fired power stations in Western Australia. Construction began on Bluewaters 1 in 2006 and Bluewaters 2 the following year.Both were commissioned in 2009.

Proposed coal-fired power stations

 * Griifin Energy have proposed the addition of a further two 208 megawatt units at the Bluewaters Power station. The company states that the project, which is referred to as the Bluewaters Power Station Expansion, would lift the total output at the station to approximately 830 megawatts. The two additional units, the company states, "are planned for completion in 2013 and 2015 respectively." The company states that the expansion project "will be capable of adopting carbon capture technology in the future, once this developing technology becomes commercially viable in Western Australia."

Abandoned coal-fired power station proposals

 * Collie B (Griffin Energy) Power Station
 * Collie B (Premier Coal) Power Station
 * Kwinana Power Station with Carbon Capture and Storage

Existing coal mines
Griffin Coal operates two major coal mines, the Muja Mine and the Ewington Mine. (The latter is also referred to as the "Ewington 1 & 2 Mines").

Premier Coal, a subsidiary of Wesfarmers Resources, operates the open cut Premier mine which the company states is the "is the sole supplier of the Collie A power station (1-1.2 million tonnes per year) and also supplies nearly 2 million tonnes to Muja Power Station." The company also states that it supplies coal to the Kwinana Power Station as well as "Iluka Resources, Tiwest, Bemax Cable Sands and a number of nurseries."

Proposed new coal mines
Griffin Coal has proposed the development of the Muja South mine.

The Vasse Coal Project has been proposed in the Margaret River region in the South West. The company promoting the project is Vasse Coal Management Pty. Ltd, which is 70% owned by South West Coal Ltd and 30% by Vasse Coal Pty Ltd. South West Coal in turn is a subsidiary of the AMCI Group while Vasse Coal is a privately owned company. In March 2011 the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority announced that it had decided that "there is adequate information to demonstrate that Vasse Coal Management’s coal mining proposal is environmentally unacceptable." The Environment Minister, Bill Marmion, has yet to accept the EPA recommendation. However, the West Australian Premier, Colin Barnett supported the EPA decision. "I had expressed as Premier that I thought that was a very doubtful prospect to have an underground coal mine in a prime wine growing area of WA and clearly there were large environmental risks to the water supply and water quality in the aquifers. It does illustrate the point that this Government allowed the process to be conducted properly, independently by the EPA. But it also shows that while this is a pro-development Government, it is not development at any cost. And where projects are not acceptable they will not be approved," he said. The opposition Labor Party has also backed the rejection of the proposed mine.

Coal exploration licences

 * Western Coal, a Canadian company have applied for a coal exploration licence adjoining the Vasse Coal Project, which looks likely to be rejected by the West Australian government. Walter Energy states that Western Coal "is a producer of high quality metallurgical coal from three mines in northeast British Columbia (Canada), high quality metallurgical coal and compliant thermal coal from four mines located in West Virginia (USA), and high quality anthracite and metallurgical coal in South Wales (UK).

Possible coal export projects
Several companies have commenced coal exploration work in the Kimberley region of far north-west of Western Australia. Theses are:


 * Canning Basin Coal, a subsidiary of TPL Corporation, has three exploration licences over 724 square kilometres of the Canning Basin. The company has touted its potential as the Lightjack Hill Coal Project.(TPL is a web-based publisher while Canning Basin Coal has no operating coal or other mining projects.) Canning Basin Coal suggests that one possibility with coal in the area could have "Underground Coal Gasification potential".


 * Rey Resources, which holds extensive exploration licences for coal south of Derby. The company states that the coal in the region is of thermal quality only and would be for export to China and India. The company states that the closest deepwater port is at Point Torment, approximately 175 kilometres to the north. (The alternative closer port at Derby would have limited potential due to the substantial tidal range). Rey Resources has touted a number of notional projects including the Duchess/ Paradise Coal Project, which the company states it is investigating as a possible export thermal coal operation comprising open cut and underground mines and the Liveringa Coal Project, a possible underground coal mine. The company has also stated that it is also considering coal bed methane extraction and underground coal gasification.

Carbon Capture and Storage research projects
There are a number of Carbon Capture and Storage projects in Western Australia. These are the:
 * Collie South West Hub;
 * Browse LNG Development; and the
 * Gorgon Project.

In June 2009 the Western Australian Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore announced that the state government would contribute $250,000 towards the $522,000 cost of the Lower Lesueur Carbon Dioxide Geosequestration Study. The study, the media release stated, will "study seismic data and existing well cores to help identify potential injection points and migration behaviour of carbon dioxide." In its annual report the Department of Mines and Petroleum stated that the study "has implications for the development of clean coal technology and could contribute to the long-term viability of Western Australia's coal industry."

Other coal projects
Perdaman Industries, via its subsidiary Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers, has proposed the establishment of a coal-to-urea plant near Collie in Western Australia. In late June 2011 Perdaman Industries lodged a claim in the Supreme Court of Western Australia for $3.5 billion against Lanco. Perdaman claimed that financing for its proposed $3.5 billion coal-to-urea plant collapsed after Lanco sought substantial price increases for the supply of coal and threatened to withhold supply if they weren''t agreed to.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Australia and coal
 * Australian Coal Association
 * New South Wales and coal
 * Queensland and coal
 * South Australia and coal
 * Victoria and coal
 * Coal terminals

External resources

 * Department of Mines Geological Survey, "Coal - Western Australia", Department of Mines Geological Survey, 1990.